The Pig Pen

fter a long week at work, the Three Pigs meet at the local slop house "The Pig Pen" to discuss their meetings with Mr. Wolfe.  Each pig griped about Mr. Wolfe's unreasonable expectations for technology integration. 

    " Mr. Wolfe's problem is that he is in a subgroup ... a technology subgroup. He feels that technology is the be-all end-all! We know it's important but not everyone is sure how to implement it effectively,” said Techno Pig.

    " Exactly," agreed Primary Pig, "I'm trying and am willing to learn but I just need time and training."

    " Yes you're right" Secondary Pig claimed, " He sees it as he wants to and we see it as we want to!"

he Three Pigs realized that they were in different sub-groups, as well, which would make it difficult to have a consistent view of technology.  When Techno Pig told the others about the inservicing held at Solid Brick Academy, they agreed that an inservice that provided clear guidelines and a question and answer would be helpful.  The three brave teachers decided to brainstorm what they would like included in such a session.

    " I think there should be a clear direction in the role of technology in a school, including the roles of the teacher, technology experts and technology help at the board level" said Techno Pig.

    " Amen sister-hog!" Mrs. Porkchop shouted, "We Primary teachers need that too!"

    " I am interested in the definition in the roles of technology" Ms. Piggish stated.  " How should we be planning to integrate technology into separate classes so we are not doing the same things over and over in each class?"

    " We use technology to learn about different courses but should students be meeting technology objectives in a Language Arts class for example?"  asked Ms. Hog.

    "This is exactly why we need to come together to a common understanding throughout the Forest of Education!"  said Primary Pig. 

he Three Pigs talked throughout the evening agreeing that researchers should consider solutions rather than simply defining the problems.  They decided to approach Mr. Wolfe with their suggestions and work together when they had any future problems with technology.  Although the three teachers were part of different sub-groups, they did agree on the need for proper inservicing and role identification in the integration of technology objectives in the Forest of Education. 

Note:  The above dialogue came directly from a role-play exercise on the part of Laurie, Kyla and Dawn.  We used our own experiences to create each pig and our sub-groups came naturally into the conversation.  Although we differed in background and technology use, we agreed on the need for inservicing and the components to be included.  As we talked, our concerns and fears were more consistent than different even though we come from different backgrounds, geographic locations and teaching levels.  We were very interested creating our narrative using The Three Pigs after reading Austin’s article, "Gretel and Hansel, Research in the Woods: An Alaskan Fairytale in Four Acts" from the Loughran text.  We have enjoyed creating a narrative with characters whose experiences mimic our own!